Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Most Likely to Succeed

Kay grew up in a working class neighborhood of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, and was a go-getter from day one. At the age of five, she learned that her
family was moving to a new house three miles away (which meant changing schools
mid-year), and undertook her first serious negotiation.

Kay told her father how nice it was that they’d have a new home,
but explained that she couldn’t move with them, because she needed to finish
the year and graduate with her kindergarten class.She first suggested staying with her
grandmother in a neighborhood near her school, to which her father’s answer
was, “you’re moving, and that’s that.”Kay acquiesced, and then responded by asking for an increase in her
allowance to cover the fare for her to take the city bus back to her old
school.Kay’s father was stunned by the
audacity of his five-year-old daughter’s request, but ultimately said yes.

The trust that her parents showed by letting her make decisions
about her life at a young age helped Kay grow up independent and
confident.She was a competitive student,
graduated valedictorian of her high school, and was voted “Most Likely to
Succeed.”

During college, Kay attended a compelling lecture on the world of
geosynchronous orbiting satellites.A
few years later, she got a job in a TV studio while working her way through
graduate school.She became increasingly
interested in the potential implications of satellite communications on
television, and wrote her Master's thesis on the impact programming delivered
via satellite could have on governments, cultures, and human rights.

Following a stint as a freelance writer, Kay went to work for
UA-Columbia, one of the many small cable television companies attempting to
establish itself in America.At the
time, cable television was something of a backwater industry, because the
average viewer had no interest in paying for more programming when they already
got three networks for free.Nevertheless, Kay was young, ambitious, and believed in cable’s
potential.She also felt that the
capabilities of satellite communications would open up the sharing of knowledge
and information around the world, and that cable TV would be the perfect place
for it to do so.Soon, she would have
the chance to prove it.

After a few years, Kay’s division was eliminated.As she considered her next move, Kay came
upon the small HBO cable network.HBO
had been a client of Kay’s, and was still sending programs out to regional
stations on physical video tapes. However, the network was advocating loudly for
government approval to begin using satellites to transmit their
programming.That same year, the
President of The Philippines successfully petitioned to host the third boxing
match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in his capital city.It was one of the most anticipated sporting
events ever, and given its location on the other side of the world, it would be
the perfect chance to show the power of satellite broadcasting.

In 1975, Kay and HBO transmitted “The Thrilla in Manila” more than
90,000 miles via satellite to a broadcast station in Vero Beach, Florida.It was the first such broadcast ever, and it
was shown to more than 200 senators and congressmen to demonstrate, beyond any
doubt, that satellite transmission was the future of television.The assembled group instantly understood the
impact of being able to bring any program into the homes of cable subscribers
from anywhere in the world instantaneously, and soon after, the use of
satellites for commercial broadcasting was officially sanctioned.

Kay Koplovitz moved forward to co-found the Madison Square Garden
Sports Network, becoming the first female network president in television
history.Prior to this, professional
sports had only been televised locally, but Kay acquired the rights to broadcast
all sporting events from Madison Square Garden, then negotiated contracts with
Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHLGradually, she also introduced other non-sports programming, ultimately
re-branding the company as The USA Network.She was so successful that, twenty years after she started the network,
she sold it for over 4 billion dollars!

I had the privilege of meeting Kay two weeks ago when she was
inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.When I asked her to share some advice with my
readers, she said, “Set your sights high and pursue your dreams with enthusiasm
and boundless energy!”So take Kay’s
advice and aim for the moon, because even if you fall short, you’ll still land
among the stars.

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Scott Shickler

About me

Scott is one of the world’s leading experts on youth empowerment and entrepreneurship. The Wall Street Journal referred to him as a serial and parallel entrepreneur due to the number of businesses he started in diverse industries. Collectively his companies have grossed over $37 million with businesses ranging from software to seminars and real estate to restaurants. Shickler is the author or coauthor of 8 books including, The Ultimate Entrepreneur and The 7 Mindsets to Live Your Ultimate Life. Scott also wrote the Boy Scout Merit Badge booklet on entrepreneurship. He has been featured on CNN, ABC & NBC News, and in The New York Times. Shickler is currently the CEO and founder of Excent Corporation – a multi-million dollar education company serving millions of students and educators throughout the world. Scott grew up in New York and now lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons. He is a graduate of Fordham University and also the cofounder of the Magic Wand Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to empowering youth to live their dreams.